Mubarak Verdict in Live Broadcast on Saturday

The trial of ousted Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak is coming to an end this weekend with a verdict that could decide Egypt's future

By Gabe Kahn

First Publish: 6/1/2012, 3:27 PM

Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak

Flash 90

Egyptian state television will broadcast live the verdict and sentencing of ousted president Hosni Mubarak in his murder and corruption trial on Saturday.

Mubarak and his security chiefs are charged with murder over the killings of protesters during the 18-day revolt that overthrew him on February 11, 2011.

He shares corruption charges with his sons Alaa and Gamal.

The first several hearings in the trial, which started in August, were broadcast live, but chief judge Rifaat Said ordered cameras out before witnesses began to take the stand.

The move came after several unruly days in which Said was forced to clear the courtroom to maintain order, while violence had also erupted outside the courthouse.

Security officials said 5,000 policemen and 2,000 soldiers will secure Saturday's session and Mubarak's transport from a military hospital where he is detained.

Mubarak will arrive in the police academy outside Cairo where the trial is being conducted on board a medical helicopter.

The 84-year-old former president, who is being treated for a serious heart condition, lay on a stretcher covered by blankets in the defendants' cage during past hearings.

His two sons Alaa and Gamal, both in white prison uniforms, generally stood by him, sometimes whispering to him when he apparently could not make out what the judge or witnesses said.

Over the 36 hearings, journalists, some relatives of the alleged victims and their lawyers were banned from bringing in cell phones to the court room.

Mubarak, his interior minister Habib al-Adly, and six police commanders face the death penalty if convicted on the murder charges. Some 850 people died in the uprising.

Observers say the verdict may have an impact on a presidential election run off on June 16-17 between the Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Mursi and Mubarak's last premier Ahmed Shafiq, who is also a former air force chief.

The run-off has turned into a showdown between Egypt's ascendant Islamist parties and the powerful military – seen as representing the officially secular status quo – though Shafiq has vowed not to revive "the Mubarak era."